A large number of diplomats, consular corps members, officials, parliamentarians, industrialists, businessmen and men of letters on Saturday afternoon attended the Soyem of late Fateh Ali Hashem, the Honorary Consul General of Morocco and a leading member of the auction business in Pakistan, who died two days ago. The sons of Fateh Ali Hashem met all those who attended the Soyem and thanked them for the condolence offered. The Consular Corps members of Karachi described the death of Mr Hashem as a great loss.
Fateh Ali Hashem, 83, had pioneered the auction business in the city by setting up the Karachi Auction Mart. The deceased also worked as the Honorary Consul General of the Kingdom of Morocco for more than two decades in the course of which he helped promote very close ties between Pakistan and Morocco.
Himself a multi-linguist with command over French, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Pushtu and several other languages, Hashem was one of the very few Pakistani diplomats who toured almost every country in the European and Asian continents as also North Africa and Central Africa.
He also promoted the learning of Persian, Arab Arabic and other foreign languages in Pakistan, and was the member of the different associations and clubs in Karachi.